Paper containing fabric



March 22, 1960 G. o. LIENHARD 2,929,414

PAPER CONTAINING FABRIC Filed Aug. 18, 1955 -BY mim-ORNE! as. t

PAPER CONTAINING FABRIC Gustav 0. Lienhard, Metuchen, NJ., assiguor toChico- Apparati@ August 1s, 195s, serial No. 529,191

Y 4 Claims. (Cl. 139-420) The present invention relates to woven fabricssuitable for upholstery, more particularly to such fabrics which aresuitable for automobile and outdoor upholstery and automobile seatcovers.

This invention contemplates a fabric woven from a mixture of saranfilaments and paper yarns. By saran is meant a copolymer of vinylidenechloride and vinyl chloride or acrylonitrile wherein the vinyl chlorideor acrylonitrile is present in a lesser amount, generally below 20percent by weight of the copolymer. 'Ilhis type of material is sold forextrusion by the Dow Chemical Company. By the term filaments is meantmonofilaments, multifilament strands, yarns spun from saran staple, etc.The paper yarns preferably are formed from paper strips twisted andreduced by running the strips through a reducer such as generallydisclosed in Rice Patent No. 436,261. However, the paper strips may bemerely crumpled and reduced rather than twisted in a regular fashion.

Paper fabrics for automobile upholstery and seat covers are well known,as are similar fabrics woven entirely of Saran. Generally speaking,paper upholstery fabrics are not competitive with similar saran fabrics.While the paper fabrics are much cheaper than the saran fabrics, theyalso are generally weaker and wear out much more quickly. Thus, they arein a different competitive class from Saran fabrics.

The present invention contemplates a modified paper fabric incorporatingsaran, which is much cheaper than Saran fabrics due to its papercontent; yet is competitive with saran fabrics in the automobile field,for instance, due to the unusual amount of strength and wear resistancecontributed by the Saran it contains. Other advantages of the fabric ofthis invention over a plain saran fabric lie in its increased resistanceto damage due to cigarette burns or other damage by heat and itsdecreased tendency to generate static electricity due to sliding overthe saran.

Apparently, a hot ash or the lighted end of a cigarette will melt a holethrough an all saran seat cover, for example, very quickly; in fact, asmany automobile owners know only too well, more quickly than the droppedcigarette can be recovered. In the fabric of this invention, the paperyarns which are relatively inert to heat, act both to shield the saranfilaments from the direct action of heat and to insulate them, in asense, from one another, thereby retarding the melting of individualfilaments.

According to this invention, Saran filaments are interwoven with paperyarns to form a at fabric with the -saran in the warp and the paper inthe fill or vice versa, yor Saran may be mixed with paper in both thewarp and should range between 80 percent paper and 20 percent :satan and33 percent paper and 67 percent saran.

Pref- Ice a 2,929,414

Patented Mar. 22, 1960 erably, the fabric is plain woven fairly tightly.However, similar weaves may be employed, and for certain uses such assummer-type seat covers, the resulting weave may be fairly loose to givemaximum ventilation.

An illustrative embodiment of a fabric according to this invention isdescribed hereinafter in connection with the drawings wherein:

Fig. 1 is an enlarged plan View of a typical fabric according to thisinvention, and

Fig. 2 is a still further enlarged sectional view along the line 2-2 ofFig. l, and

Fig. 3 is a similarly enlarged sectional view along the line 3--3 ofFig. 1, and

Fig. 4 is a greater enlargement of a portion of Fig. 2, and

Fig. 5 is a similar enlargement of a portion of Fig. 3.

Referring to the drawings, there is shown a plain woven fabric havingsomewhat flattened saran monofilaments 11 in the warp and similarlyflattened twisted paper yarns 12 in the fill. This fabric is relativelytightly woven, comprising approximately 40 ends per inch of Saran andabout.17 picks per inch of paper. With paper yarns formed from twistedstrips of 16 1b. Wet strength paper approximately 14/32 inch wide andflat Saran monofilaments approximately 4500 yards per lb., the papercontent is approximately 61 percent of the total with the remainder, 39percent, saran. It will be seen that most of the coverage is provided bythe attened paper yarns 12 which are quite close to one another, whilethe flattened filaments 11 lie closely over and protect the paper yarns12 wherever the filaments cross the yarns on one side of the fabric.

While the fabric is relatively fiat and smooth, the paper yarns 12 areslightly crimped and the saran filaments are relatively highly crimpeddue mainly to the weaving operation and the fact that the yarns 12 aremuch bulkier than the filaments 11. The high spots 13 or tips of thecrimped portions of the saran filaments 11 are exposed on both sides ofthe fabric whenever one of the filaments passes over one of the paperyarns 12. Since the saran filaments are relatively tough and dense ascompared with the bulkier paper yarns, these high spots 13 tend to takemost of the wear to which the fabric is subjected thereby minimizingfailure due to abrasion of the paper yarns. It will be seen that highspots 13 or exposed portions of the Saran filaments 11 are spaced fromone another on the face of the fabric and more or less surrounded by theadjacent portions of the intersecting paper yarns 12. Thus, the saran ispartially imbedded in the paper and the exposed portions 13 of thefilaments are insulated from one another, thereby minimizing heat damageto the saran and retarding the formation of holes due to contact withthe lighted ends of cigarettes, etc. Due to the relatively smallproportion of saran filaments exposed on the face of the fabric asopposed to the paper, the generation of static electricity due tosliding over the fabric, for example, also is minimized as mentionedhereinbefore.

Almost any type of paper may be employed in forming the fabric of thisinvention, although some type of socalled twisting tissue might best beused. Generally speaking, a wet-strength twisting tissue is preferred tominimize damage by water or other liquids. Wet-strength papers of thistype conventionally are produced by mixing a wet-strength resin or arubber or latex into the paper slurry before the paper actually isformed. v

Having now described the invention in specific detail and exemplifiedthe manner in which it may be carried into practice, it will be readilyapparent to those skilled in the art that innumerable variations,applications, modif fications, and extensions of the basic principlesinvolved be nitide without departing from its spirit and scope. l

Ihus,.the kfabrics of the present invention may be employed in a host ofways that will be readily apparent to the kskilled artisan. We thereforeintend to be limited only on accordance with the appended pate-ritclaims.

1. A wearfresistant plain woven fabric comprising somewhat flattenedpaperl yarns in one direction ofthe fabric and similarly flattenedrelatively tough and dense sa'ran filaments inthe other direction ofthefabric, vthe Saran filaments rising at the surface of the fabric wherethey pass over the paper yarns on at least one side of the fabricexposing portions of the saran filaments and forming wear-resistant highspotson this side of the fabric, the exposed portions of the Saranfilamentsbeing spaced from one another and partially imbedded in 'thesurrounding paper yarns and the paper yarns being relatively closelyspaced from one `another, the composition of said fabric ranging betweenabout 80 percent paper and `20 percent Saran and `33 percent paper and67 percent saran.

2; A wear-resistant plain woven fabric comprising paper yarns in thefilling direction of the fabric and relatively tough and dense Saranfilaments in the Warp direction of the fabric, the saran filamentsrising at Vthesurface of the fabric where they pass over the paper yarnson 'at least one side of the fabric exposing portions of the sara'nfilaments and forming Wear-resistant high spots on this side of thefabric, the exposedportions of the saran filaments being spaced from oneanother and partially inr- 'bedded in the surrounding paper yarns andthe paper yarns being relatively closely spaced from one another, thecomposition of said fabric ranging between about '80 percent. paper andZO-percent seran and 33 percent .paper and 67 percent saran.

3. A wear-resistant woven fabric comprising Apapier yarns in onedirection of the fabric and relatively ltough and dense s'aran filamentsin the other direction of the fabric, the saran filaments rising at thesurfaces of the fabric where they pass over the paper yarnsv exposingportions of the saran filaments and forming wear-resistant high spots,the exposed portions of the Saran filaments being spaced from oneanother and partially imbedded in the surrounding paper yarnsthecomposition of said fabric ranging between about percent paper and 20percent saran and 33 V'percent paper and 67 Apercent saran.

4. A wear-resistant woven fabric comprising paper yarns .andA'relatively tough and dense saran filaments intersecting one another,said Yyarns being bulkier than said filaments and said filaments beingcrimped to a greater extentrth'an said yarns, vthesaran filaments risingvat the surface of the fabric where they .pass over the paper yarns onat leastl vone side of the fabric exposing portions of the saranfilaments and forming wear-resistant high spots on this side of thefabric, the exposed portions 'of tlresaran filaments 'being spaced fromone another and partially imbedded in the surrounding 'paper yarns, thecomposition of said fabric ranging between about -80 percent paper and2O percent saran and 33 vpercent'paper and -67 percent saran.

FOREIGN rATNTS 373,986 Great Britain 'Nov. 28, 1930

4. A WEAR-RESISTANT WOVEN FABRIC COMPRISING PAPER YARNS AND RELATIVELYTOUGH AND DENSE SARAN FILAMENTS INTERSECTING ONE ANOTHER, SAID YARNSBEING BULKIER THAN SAID FILAMENTS AND SAID FILAMENTS BEING CRIMPED TO AGREATER EXTENT THAN SAID YARNS, THE SARAN FILAMENTS RISING AT THESURFACE OF THE FABRIC WHERE THEY PASS OVER THE PAPER YARNS ON AT LEASTONE SIDE OF THE FABRIC EXPOSING PORTIONS OF THE SARAN FILAMENTS ANDFORMING WEAR-RESISTANT HIGH SPOTS ON THIS SIDE OF THE FABRIC, THEEXPOSED PORTIONS OF THE SARAN FILAMENTS BEING SPACED FROM ONE ANOTHERAND PARTIALLY IMBEDDED IN THE SURROUNDING PAPER YARNS, THE COMPOSITIONOF SAID FABRIC RANGING BETWEEN ABOUT 80 PERCENT PAPER AND 20 PERCENTSARAN AND 33 PERCENT PAPER AND 67 PERCENT SARAN.